The 2022 escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine into a full-scale war has destroyed parts of entire cities, dislocated millions of individuals, and has increased insecurity of food and energy for many (Johnson, 2023; Oyeleye & Jiang, 2023; Assisi & Kipo-Sunyehzi, 2024).  Khylko & Khylko (2024) therefore contends that this has raised concerns about the shortcomings of the mainstream IR theoretical paradigms (especially realism and liberalism) in reducing this wa